To support community wellness in South Pacific County through active collaborations

Dr. Teri Pettersen presents to local providers on the impacts of ACEs.

On March 21, 2018 WellSpring Community Network in partnership with Ocean Beach Hospital Foundation and Pacific County Youth Alliance, hosted a training for local medical providers on the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). 22 participants from medical, behavioral, and public health settings attended the training with Dr. Teri Pettersen.​Pettersen is a pediatric consultant for the Oregon Psychiatric Access Line about Kids (OPAL-K) team. She worked as a pediatrician at The Children's Clinic in Portland for 26 years, with a career-long interest and focus on mental health within the primary care setting.

Participants were given an overview of the ACEs study, how traumatic stress impacts the developing brain, and the potential lifetime health impacts. The training also provided tools on how to best serve patients with a history of trauma.

Thank you to Ocean Beach Hospital Foundation and Pacific County Youth Alliance for their sponsorship of this event. We appreciate the work you do to improve the lives of families in Pacific County!

Hosted by WellSpring, Family Game Night is a time where friends, neighbors and family come together for a night of fun. For the first time in a year, community members gathered at Long Beach Elementary Cafeteria for a lively night of games. Parents and children gathered around the table enjoying a warm bowl of soup and the company of each other. Families had a variety of games to choose from, including puzzles and trivia style games. The room was filled with laughter. Yahtzee and bingo were the popular choice for the night.

Thank you to Long Beach Elementary and Ocean Beach School District for giving us the space to host game night. A big thank you goes out to Peninsula Active Learners (PALs) for donating soccer balls to all the families who attended the first Family Game Night of the school year.​The next Family Game Night is scheduled for Friday February 24th 5:30pm-6:30pm at Ocean Park Elementary. Games and a warm meal will be provided.

On December 1, 2016 Ilwaco High School (IHS) opened a Safe Space Room, a project spearheaded by the school’s Youth Action Klub (YAK). The intention is to help students cope with stress in a healthy way so that they can reengage with the school day. The project was partly funded under a 2016 WellSpring Mini-Grant.

When attending the National Prevention Network (NPN) conference in November 2015, YAK identified youth marijuana use as a local concern. YAK determined that in part this use is due to youth self-medicating for stress.

In the last two years, school stress ranked as the primary concern for IHS students on the Peer Helpers Survey, a tool used by youth clubs to identify areas for improvement.

By Becca Manlow, AmeriCorps Volunteer at Grays Harbor College and financial literacy guru.

What’s your New Year's resolution? If you don’t already have one, I have an idea! Let’s talk about how you can save money to go on vacation, or have even more money next holiday season. Now is the time to create financial goals and become aware of where your money goes. Imagine how much stress you will relieve just by knowing where your money is going. I know that it has helped me a ton this last year, so let’s get to saving!

There are only a few steps to creating a budget that will work for you.

1. Monthly income: the amount of money coming in from paychecks and other monthly sources.2. Other income: incoming money from odd jobs, gifts, allowance, etc.3. Needs: Things necessary to survival bills, food, rent/housing, savings, emergency fund savings etc.4. Wants: all other expenses, things that are not needed to survive.5. Net income is the amount of money left over after paying all expenses (steps 3 and 4) this money can be used to put more into step 4 or put into savings in another way.